Everything is Fine
by sapphire blue-ruby red roses
Summary: Varen comes back. one-shot, just something stupid I needed to write


**Okay, so I'm sure there are a number of people who have done this many times before, but I just had to get it out of my system. This is my second version of it because I was rereading the first book and found the scene with Isobel and Varen in the cafeteria. I loved it, so I wanted to do something with it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Nevermore and never will**

Everything is Fine

Isobel was engulfed by a profound sense of déjà vu. She stared down or her tray filled with the same foods as the last time this happened, a salad and hamburger. Tears stung the back of her eyes as she mechanically prepared her food.

Bracing her forehead in her hand, covering her eyes, she chewed slowly on her salad. How had she even managed this again? Was she just stupidly amazing at running her friends off? She didn't even know how it had happen this time. The conversation was a complete and utter blur. She had the vaguest feeling that it had to do with her inability to tell her best friend, Gwen, about everything that happened from Pinfeathers' death to Varen pushing her off the cliff to when she woke up screaming and sobbing. She hadn't been able to say a single word.

She ate methodically as a pair of black boots stepped into her field of vision, stopping beside her. "Please, this isn't funny. I'm not in the mood for jokes," she muttered, figuring it was one of her ex-crew trying to screw with her. She waited for the snickering, but it never came. All that greeted her ears was absolute silence. No one was eating. No one was moving. Weirdest of all, no one was talking.

"That's a vegetable, it can't tell you a joke," the voice she'd been longing for months to hear told her. It was warm and affectionate, something she'd never heard.

The tears spilled over her lashes as her eyes widened. She couldn't even left her head to look him in the eye.

Long gentle fingers pushed the waterfall of her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. Using just the tips of his fingers, he lifted her chin. His lovely, pale jade eyes locked on hers, unmoving, but so heart wrenchingly familiar.

She could feel the stares of the entire cafeteria as she stood on shaky legs. "Is it you? Is it really you? Not… not the other one?" She whispered, her voice breaking and hitching uncomfortably.

When he nodded, opening his arms, she flung herself into him with a choked sob, "Varen, I thought I'd lost you!"

"Never," he told her.

Lifting herself on her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for the hungriest and sweetest kiss she'd ever given. He reciprocated with just as much hunger, gentle as a summer breeze, threading his fingers into her hair, lifting her toes off the floor.

The slam of a tray skittering across the floor and someone stomping from the room just barely brought them back to reality. Isobel caught a glimpse of Brad before the cafeteria doors closed. She could have cared less.

Giggling happily, she pulled Varen's lips back to hers. When they pulled apart again, it was not of their own free will, but Gwen's.

"Holy shit!" She shouted, staring at them with huge eyes, jaw slack much like the rest the cafeteria. "When did this happen?"

Sighing, they laughed quietly, foreheads pressed together.

...

Closing a door quietly behind her, Isobel let her eyes wander across the body sprawled on her bed, black on pink. He had her photo album, the one she'd begun to fill with pictures of her and Gwen, propped open on his chest. "You know, you shouldn't go through other people's things. It's rude," she murmured with no real annoyance behind her voice, stepping toward the bed. Lying down beside him on her side, she looked at the photo he was on, one of her and Gwen sticking their tongues out at the taker.

"I see you've replaced the squad pictures with couple photos," he commented, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

Isobel sighed. She supposed it was as good a time as any. "After… after everything that happened in February, after they let me out of the hospital and I could finally go back to school, Gwen thought she should document happy times. Something like that, I think. I kind of just let her do whatever she wanted. She's even got one of us and in a couch fort in sports bras. It was really hot that day."

"Oh really?" Varen asked, casually flipping through the pages in search of said picture.

"No, you can't see that," she laughed, making a grab for the album, but simply landed on his chest when he pulled it out of her reach. She stayed there, watching his eyes.

He was silent for a long moment, letting the album drop to the bed. "You were in the hospital? Because of me, right?" he asked, fingers cautiously threading through her hair.

"That… that wasn't you," she tried to tell him.

He shook his head. "That doesn't change the fact that I was still the one to put you there… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." His voice was broken, but strong with conviction.

"I can't say that it's okay," Isobel whispered, "because it's not. I still have nightmares, but it will be, because your back. It'll be better." Involuntarily, she yawned, her hand shooting forward to cover her mouth.

"I should be going. You need to sleep," Varen said, moving to stand.

Grabbing his arm, she anchored him to her side. "I don't want to sleep. I don't want you to go, not so soon after I've gotten you back." She could feel the burn of embarrassing truth on her cheeks, but didn't care all that much at that moment. "Please."

After a moment, he settled back down, pulling her into his chest. Reaching over him, she kissed him softly, pressing her lips to his.

…..

The cold morning air slipped across the bare skin of her back, raising goose-pimples and sending a shiver down her spine. Pulling in a slow breath, she blinked awake. The other side of her bed was empty, but warm to the touch. He'd just left.

Pulling the covers around her, Isobel sat up slowly, staring at the sun peeking over the ledge of her open window. On it, a slip of folded paper lay.

Rolling from the bed, her fingers slipping over the fabric of Varen's green jacket, she grabbed the slip. On it read _'I'll see you in school - Varen_'. A reassurance she was sure she hadn't needed. The jacket on her bed sent a warm flutter through her chest.

Yes, everything was going to be perfectly fine.

**Just ignore me and my hopeful fangirl wishing. Comments are welcome and loved.**


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